


Night Changes

by theworldunseen



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Princess Leia (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Drabble, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Post-Star Wars: A New Hope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-09 21:58:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12897696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theworldunseen/pseuds/theworldunseen
Summary: Han Solo can't sleep on the rebel base, and he's surprised that Princess Leia can't either. They talk about all she's lost.Takes place after A New Hope but before Empire Strikes Back. Inspired by Claudia Gray's Leia, Princess of Alderaan.





	Night Changes

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for a long time but reading Leia, Princess of Alderaan really got my juices flowing. It makes sense if you haven't read that book, though (but you should!)

Han Solo couldn’t sleep. Maybe it was because he was so used to sleeping on the Falcon, instead of on a tiny cot in the rebellion’s barracks. Maybe it was because he couldn’t sleep without the rhythmic purr of Chewie’s snores. Maybe it was because he knew he didn’t belong here — with the rebels, rebelling.

Han wasn’t meant for this. Organization, responsibilities. He liked trouble, but he liked his kind of trouble, the kind he can flirt his way out of, or bribe his way out of when that failed. Not this kind of trouble, the kind that got you executed for treason before you could even say goodbye. When he showed up to help the kid, he thought he was doing the right thing. No, he wasn’t thinking, he was driven by pure adrenaline. He wasn’t sure he meant to sign up for all this.

Finally, he rose from his cot, throwing the tiny blanket aside. Maybe he’d feel better after a glass of water, he thought. Maybe he’s feel less like he was drowning.

He stumbled through the hallway to the canteen. As he passed other rooms, he wondered if their occupants were asleep, or were they up all night with doubts of their own. Surely  _ she _ was sleeping. He’d never met someone more sure in his life.

He reached the canteen, grabbed a glass of water, and sat at the table. Though he knew it was night, without windows it could have been any time of day. He didn’t like it. It made him edgy, to feel so disconnected from the outside.

So he jumped when someone else entered the canteen, only to realize it was Leia. She seemed surprised too, then annoyed when she realized it was him. Her eyes narrowed. 

“What are  _ you _ doing here?” she said, her voice ice cold. 

“Lovely to see you too, Princess,” he said, trying to sound just as rude, but too tired to put his heart into it. She gave a small, involuntary shudder at the word “princess,” which he almost missed, but didn’t. She grabbed her own water and then went to exit. “Wait —” he said, so softly he was afraid she hadn’t heard him. She almost hadn’t, but at the last moment she turned. “You don’t have to leave.” He wasn’t looking at her, instead staring at his own glass as if it contained the secrets of the universe.

She knew she should leave. But she couldn’t bear the silence of being alone, again. Always alone now. She sat down across from her, staring at her own glass, avoiding his eyes too. They sat there like that for a few moments, neither moving. Leia leaped first.

“Can’t sleep?” she offered, trying to make up for how rude she was when she walked in. She didn’t know why just the sight of him riled her up, made her want to shout. Her mother hadn’t raised her to… well, her mother wasn’t here now.

“What was your first clue?” he deadpanned. But then he looked up and smiled at her. “Guess I’m not used to sleeping on a moon.” 

“You’d think the rebellion could afford slightly warmer blankets,” she added, almost smiling now too. 

“You have that blanket too?” he asked. “You’d think they’d give the best blanket to a princess.” There it was again, the tiny shudder, even as she tried to smile. He felt bad. “You don’t like it when I call you princess,” he noted, as if it was a stray observation, but really trying to apologize.

“I don’t like it when anyone calls me princess anymore,” she said, looking away from him again. “What’s a princess without a planet?” He hadn’t thought of it that way. “I mean, there are some Alderaanians left, but…” The sentence hurt too much to finish. She blinked away tears.

Han placed his hand on top of hers. It was uncharacteristic, Leia knew. She didn’t want his sympathy. She drew her hand away. He understood.

That sat in silence a few more moments. Leia was glad for a moment to collect herself. Han Solo was not the type of man you were supposed to confide in. And yet, nothing was happening like it was supposed to. He wasn’t supposed to be here, she wasn’t supposed to be here — she was sure she believed in “supposed to” at all anymore.

“Are you parents alive?” she asked, finally, her voice even lower than usual. He shook his head. 

“I don’t think most smugglers have parents. Well, Chewbacca does, but Wookie customs baffle me.” He smiled. “But I’m over it. All processed, no more trauma. Very normal.” Leia smirked, then shook her head, weighing his words.

“Sometimes,” she said, “I feel like an orphan twice over. My biological father died in the clone wars, my mother died giving birth to me, and then my parents…” No, she would not cry. “During the day, I don’t think about them — I can’t think about them. Adrenaline and duty, they wipe it all out. But at night, it’s all I can think about. All the people I let down.”

“Well that’s not fair to yourself,” Han said, getting up to refill their glasses. “You did the best you could. You saved the whole rebellion.” Leia shrugged as he placed her glass in front of her.

“Before this all started, my parents —”

“Breha and Bail,” Han interrupted. Leia was impressed he remembered. She nodded and continued.

“They were very conscious of what they were putting at risk. Who they were putting at risk. Not just themselves, or me, but the whole planet. At night, I dreamt of an Alderaan brought to its knees, exploited by the Empire. That was my worst case scenario. But the worst case was so much worse.”

Han hadn’t thought about it that way, but it was true. The Organa’s had put Alderaan at risk and paid the ultimate price for it.

“And not everyone thought we should. My ….ugh, friend —”

“Your boyfriend?” Han interrupted. Leia rolled her eyes, so he knew he was right.

“Yes. He thought we shouldn’t put Alderaan at risk. He was killed trying to inform on us, but also trying to save me. It’s complicated,” she said, when Han’s eyebrows shot up. “Maybe he was right, maybe we chose wrong.”

“What other option was there, though? Just let the Empire do what it wants?” he asked, surprised by his own words. Leia was too, laughing in a way that did not indicate her amusement.

“That’s rich coming from you. I’ll be shocked if you’re still in this rebellion next week!” That was mean, she realized, but before she could take it back, he mumbled, “Same.”

“But that’s me. You’re different. Always doing the right thing, helping people, sacrificing yourself. You’re...good.” He didn’t finish the thought. Han Solo was not good.

“Well that’s stupid,” Leia said, sharply, as if she heard him. He almost sputtered his water. “I’m only ‘good’ because I choose to be. Every day. That’s what my parents’ taught me. Just because you’ve never done the right thing doesn’t mean you can’t start now. I mean, you literally are starting now!” She was upset, which he liked. He liked that someone cared enough about him to get upset about the things he did, even if he’d never admit it.

“Well,” he said. “I guess we’ll see next week.” She huffed at him. He liked that too. “Well, if it makes you feel better, the few times I went to Alderaan, it seemed really nice.”

“Ugh,” she groaned, “Don’t tell me you were smuggling on my planet!”

“Yes princess,” he said. This time she didn’t shudder. “Infrequently. Only desperate people smuggle. The people on Alderaan were happy and healthy and well-cared for.” Now she smiled for real. It made him feel harm in his chest.

Actually, now that he was thinking about it…

“Wait, come with me,” he barked, rising from the table and dashing down the hallway. She followed him, annoyed.

“Where are we going?” she whisper-shouted, not wanting to wake anyone up. “Han! Han!”

“Just follow me,” he whisper-shouted back. He reached back for her hand. She gave it and they broke into a trot.

“Han! Tell me this instant!”

“I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise!”

They were in the hangar, running past different ships. She knew where they were going now, but she still didn’t know why. They ran up the ramp to the Falcon and entered. Han didn’t even bother to turn on all the lights, leaving them half in darkness. He started rummaging through the boxes she looked at before, assuming they were stolen or smuggled cargo. She wasn’t wrong.

“Come look in here with me,” he said, pulling a box out. She crouched down on the other side, facing him, looking down into a box of assorted items.

“What are we looking for?” she whispered. It felt wrong to shout now.

“This is the box of stuff no one wants,” he whispered back. “That I can’t sell, I mean. And I remembered something I picked up on Alderaan — aha!”

He pulled out his hand, in which was a small, glass orb. It glowed with a red light — red like a sunset. He held it out between them, and Leia stared at it, stunned.

“I have no idea what this does. Neither does anyone else not from Alderaan, apparently.” Leia placed her hand on it too, holding it between them.

“I haven’t seen one of these since I was a kid. They’re danger orbs. The color correlates to how much danger you’re in. They’re not very effective — the range gets all wonky — but they were popular gifts, especially to someone you loved. When I was a kid, I used to run around the castle with mine trying to see if I could get it to change from green. Green was the most safe. The closest I got was a sort of muddy green when I climbed a wall. Not a lot of danger in a palace.”

He looked at it again. It was so small, but it’s light was enough to illuminate the room. “Every other time I’ve held it, it’s been black. What’s that mean?”

“Extreme mortal peril,” she said, smiling up at him. He looked so handsome in the red light. Younger. He had a strange look on his face.

“What’s red mean?” he asked, his voice low and husky. She looked beautiful in the red light. Strong.

“Good danger. An adventure. A thrill.”

They looked at the orb in their hands. Then looked at each other. Illuminated in its sunset glow, all they could do was lean in for a kiss.

  
  


 

And for the rest of his life, every smuggler, trader, and dealer in the galaxy knew that if you had an artifact from Alderaan, the best man to sell it to was Han Solo, who’d pay any price for his princess.


End file.
